South Bend advances to the Midwest League Championship Series

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Kernels lost 9-3 to the South Bend Cubs in Game 3 of the Western Division Championship Series on Friday night in Cedar Rapids. South Bend will now play Lake County in the Midwest League Championship Series.

South Bend jumped ahead early with a four-run 1st inning by sending ten batters to the plate. The first three hitters of the game reached before a sacrifice fly by Owen Caissie put the Cubs up 1-0. Luis Verdugo’s two-run double to right-center pushed the Cubs lead to 3-0. BJ Murray followed with a RBI single to make the score 4-0.

The Cubs increased the lead to 5-0 in the 2nd inning after a walk by Jordan Nwogu and a pair of Kernels errors.

Pete Crow-Armstrong manufactured a run in the 4th inning to push the Cubs lead to 6-0. Crow-Armstrong singled and stole two bases before scoring on Caissie’s second sacrifice fly.

Caissie scored Crow-Armstrong again the 6th inning to push the lead to 7-0. The RBI single resulted in Caissie’s third RBI and Crow-Armstrong’s third run scored of the night.

The Kernels scored three times in the 7th inning, cutting South Bend’s lead to 7-3. Pat Winkel’s single and walks by Kyler Fedko and Wander Javier loaded the bases with no outs. Winkel came home on Willie Joe Garry’s sacrifice fly. A two-out, two-run single to center by Mikey Perez plated both Fedko and Javier to trim South Bend’s lead to four runs.

South Bend added two runs in the 9th inning to increase the lead to 9-3. Caissie’s recorded his fourth RBI of the night with a double that scored Nwogo. Caissie then scored on a RBI single by BJ Murray.

South Bend’s Daniel Palencia started on the mound and struck out eight over five scoreless innings for the victory. Orlando Rodriguez took the loss for the Kernels after recording just one out.

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